It was only a few years ago when the fate of comedy juggernaut, The Upright Citizens Brigade, seemed vastly unsure. The COVID-19 Pandemic wreaked havoc throughout the comedy world, but it definitely forced UCB to reckon with how it extended itself and with its very own structure and integrity as a comedy institution/brand/school. In 2020, UCB was reduced to one physical venue, their original LA location in Franklin Village, then, subsequently, sold off as entire brand from the original UCB 4 to its current multi-party ownership.

By the end of the year, UCB will have two mainstay locations as they’ve officially locked in a lease at 242 E. 14th St., New York, New York. Yes, UCB NY will be a thing once more and brighter days are ahead (especially with UCB LA already having returning to their stacked 7-night-a-week programming and configuring a way to pay performers). That puts this new UCB in Gramercy Park, which is on a whole other side of Manhattan from Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen, former UCB locations. The old spot of UCB East won’t be too far as will NYC comedy havens, The Stand (just four blocks away) and Club Cumming (9 blocks away).

UCB aims to have shows going by this Fall and, with that in mind, are already taking submissions for their house teams including Harold (improv), Maude (sketch), and Betty (characters). Deadlines/dates are as follows:

Harold:
deadline to submit: 8/16
auditions: 9/21-24
callbacks: 9/29-10/1

Maude & Betty:
deadline to submit: 7/26
auditions: 8/23-8/27
callbacks: 9/8-9/10

Get more details and submit at ucbcomedy.com/auditions.

Otherwise, look forward to Manhattan getting a little less clubby in a few months.